A salvaged horse in England.
More Roma from Sweden are now positive about schooling for their children. A reportage.
In Slovakia, along Elena Lacková, the pioneer of Roma literature, one finds also Dezider Banga. Several Romane authors have an informal group RÓMSKY LITERÁRNY KLUB (ROLIK), where they have the opportunity to develop their work more intensively and publish it regularly. The documentary film SONG ON THE WIND captures the historical process of the establishment of Romani literature in our society in the form of small portraits of Romani poets and writers.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban had a new decree issued removing the refugee status of Ukrainian in “safe” counties. As a result, quite a few refugees found themselves on the street… Sot this issue? They are all Roma from Transcarpathia, a region Orban claims as his, and they all speak Hungarian.
But are not Hungarian in his view.
Bad and sad.
https://youtu.be/3_jLntdu-us In: Telex. 22.08.2024.
A much more differentiated article about the issues with Roma in Slovenia. It says that after thirty years of deliberate neglect of the minority, politics will now finally agree that something must be done. What the consensus now is, unfortunately is, is to limit and deprive the Roma of social rights, to make life even more difficult in general, and even to adopt stricter criminal legislation especially for them.
At the request of several Slovenian mayors, the Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar visited the municipalities of Ribnica and Kočevje, where he learned about the events of recent weeks. He promised an increased police presence in areas where the situation is expected to worsen due to “some Roma”.
According to the mayor of Ribnica, Slovenia, there are people who were indicted 17 times but are still at large. This is bad, but what is worse, is that the mayor and the article speaks of Romani crime.
Two articles in the Slovene press with two different views. One is asking why in spite of all efforts, integration of the Roma minority failed, while the other questions whether funds earmarked for integration really were used for that …
The members of the interdepartmental working group for dealing with the Roma “issue” called an emergency meeting. The latter was also attended by Prime Minister Robert Golob. They decided to establish a subgroup that will take care of security issues.
Two articles about the attack on policemen by Roma. The policemen were trying to arrest an underage driver and were prevented by his relatives. The articles bemoan the inaction of the government, the impunity of Roma, and the fact that one of the attacker was released almost immediately after arrest.
Bad.
The Slovenian Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar and Deputy Director General of the Police Igor Ciperle will meet today with the management of the municipalities of Kočevje and Ribnica. The topic of the conversation will be the security situation and Roma issues, after several escalations have recently occurred between Roma and the majority population and law enforcement authorities.
A lone voice in Slovenia setting context about the Roma “problem”. She states that a summer without particularly prominent problems with illegal migrants brought political activation at the expense of problems with another convenient group, the Roma, who, unlike the first, are considered some kind of imaginary “internal enemies”.
In brief, once is creating some scapegoats based on effective petty criminality, whose causes (exclusion and racism) are totally excluded.
Dangerous.
We will have to introduce a Slovenian chronicle, akin to the French Chronicle we have been doing due to the high number of articles on the Roma “problem” in the Slovenian press. Thes articles are divided pretty much along party lines. One side says that the issues, and the recent attacks are the result of the current government inaction, while the other side is more differentiated.
Here the view on the government inaction…
The project of the current Slovak government to cut benefits of people who refuse job offers, clearly aimed at Roma, is receiving praise in some of the country’s press. Much is done of the “collaboration” and “approval” of the plenipotentiary for Roma.
Fact is, this is very much inspired from neighbouring Hungary where the so-called közmunka – communal work – sees people enrolled in 19th century type of work with 19th century results.
Bad.
Last week in Kočevje, several Roma got into a fight with the police. According to the newspaper, this event was just the tip of the iceberg. Shootings, thefts and robberies are a regular occurrence. In this municipality, Roma have been holding a regular yearly protest to highlight their housing plight. This year, Roma cancelled it.
The Slovenian opposition NSi proposes tightening criminal legislation for more serious crimes committed by minors, while the country’s president Nataša Pirc Musar warns against organizing municipals guards.
On Friday, August 23, Prague 4 will host the fifth edition of the Romany Bashavel event. The event will take place again in the popular Cultural Center on Novodvorská from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The main star will be Slovak rapper and musician P.A.T., who promotes the so-called Roma Rap – a combination of rap and Roma traditional music, which was also accepted by the original fans of his “harder” work. ROMEA TV broadcasts the event live.
Citizen members of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs and representatives of the organization RomanoNet today issued a statement calling on the government of the Czech Republic to immediately suspend all decisions regarding the future of the Agency for Social Inclusion (ASZ) and to start a broad public discussion about its future. They stated that the participation of Roma in the ASZ is only a formal one.
A fight between two Roma families was filmed in Bjelovar, Croatia. The fight left several wounded, and a few arrested. One man is now accused of attempted murder, after he shot and wounded another in this fight.
Bad.
The former leader of the Slovenian Communist Party, Milan Kučan said about the Roma “problem”: “I don’t take a particularly dramatic view of this, but above all I think it is inadmissible that, through repression, people are now trying to make the whole Roma community guilty of the incidents of individuals.” He opposes the proposed creation of village guards in the regions with Roma settlements.
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